The Quick Guide to Reading in Color

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Birthday Party Pledge!

Take the Birthday Party Pledge:I promise to give multicultural books as gifts to the children in my life for ONE year.I promise to encourage them to read about and appreciate diversity in all its forms.I commit myself to building a new generation of readers! Click on the link above to download the certificate! There is also a Birthday Party Pledge blog which you should definitely check out, the blog will be updated at least monthly.

The Birthday Party Pledge website features lists on the side that we update periodically (I helped create the global fiction list with Lyn Miller Lachmann :) Most of the books on the website are MG or YA but we also have a Picture Books list that will be refreshed monthly as well. We refresh the lists in order to offer a wealth of options, hopefully at least one book on the list will appeal to the young reader in your life.

Why did we start this website? And whose we? Doret from theHappyNappyBookseller, Edi from Crazy Quilts, Jill from Rhapsody in Books and authors Zetta Elliott and Lyn Miller Lachman and myself started this website and blog to promote an early love of reading for children of color. We also wanted to provide an unbiased website with no reviews, only summaries of books about people of color, to help parents find diverse reads for their children. Please stop by and SIGN THE PLEDGE!

Join Us!

Tell the Publishing Industry that you're sick and tired of whitewashed covers and few diversity in books

Reading in Color Wishlist

See also my GoodReads to-read list, since I own almost none of the books on there. If you own any of these books and want to trade for them (or just give them away! hee hee) then please contact me! This list is in no particular order.

My Review Policy

I'm happy to review books that are sent to me when I can. Contact me if you want me to review your book willbprez (at) aol (dot) com

I prefer to review YA books about people of color. Occasionally, I will review a book with a white main character, but odds are, that I will decline.

However, I do NOT review blog novels or e-books. Sorry!

Furthermore, I will ALWAYS review books honestly so if you only want a positive review, that's not me. I blog with integrity.

Reading in Color Ratings & Explanations

5/5=<3 A.Must.Read. Preferably buy it, but if you can't or don't want to, go to the library! The book was amazing. 'Nuff said

4/5=Excellent. Great read. Strongly recommended to read.

3/5=Liked it. Good characters, plot, etc. Read it if you want to be entertained and aren't very nitpicky.

2/5=Decent. Hit or Miss. If you see it, read it, but don't go out of your way to look for it. Don't read if you only like really, really good books.

1/5=One or two ok things about this book. Disappointing. Hopefully the next one by the author will be better! I hope I never have to give a book this review :(

"IQ" stands for Incredible Quote. It's one of my favorite lines from the book. I pick one that really stands out, whether it's funny, inspirational or deep.

"Off-Color" a review of a book that does not have a poc in it. These will be rare and far in between. Uusally they will have a poc as a secondary character or be authored by a poc even if the mc isn't a poc.